New hub set to bolster social science research, mentoring

The American Institutes for Research (AIR) has opened a new regional office in Kenya which it will use to foster partnerships with local universities and other organisations to advance research in social and behavioural science fields in East Africa and the continent at large.

The Nairobi office will serve as a hub for the researchers’ activities, forging research partnerships and collaborations with universities and institutions to provide evidence-based solutions for social economic challenges faced by communities in Africa.

AIR will also help grow the social and behavioural science fields in the region, as per its mandate, by applying knowledge generated to better understand and find solutions for the problems and threats to the well-being of African communities.

Already, under its AIR Pipeline Partnership Program and with funding of the AIR Equity Initiative, the United States-based researcher has partnered with the universities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, to provide education, training and mentoring for students who are entering social and behavioural sciences as researchers.

It is further establishing linkages with Kenyatta University (KU) and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) in Kenya, for collaborations in research and education.

Research support

The 39 staff members based at the new office will serve as the centre for AIR’s current and future work in the region, including in Uganda, the organisation said.

It will conduct research and provide technical assistance throughout Africa, serving as a base for its operations, supported by dedicated East Africa staff, as they continue to grow their work across the continent, said Christine Kiecha, the managing director of AIR’s office in Kenya.

The organisation has partnered with the African Economic Research Consortium and the Union for African Population Studies to expand training of the social and behavioural scientists, she added.

“Our goal is to grow partnerships with governments, local organisations and like-minded institutions on evidence-generation and research in our sectors of interest, including in food security, nutrition, agriculture, education, health and climate change,” she told University World News.

The already established deals are relatively new, having been set up in the past year and, in addition to education and training, AIR will seek to contribute to joint research and innovation collaborations in its relationship with KU and JOOUST, she added.

The partnership with the universities of Dar es Salaam and of Nairobi is part of the AIR Pipeline Partnership Program, which works with universities to help improve and diversify the behavioural sciences disciplines, explained AIR’s Dana Tofig, the managing director of corporate communications.

“We work in partnership with the universities to provide education and training in the range of expertise required to sustain best practices in conducting behaviour and social science research.

“Participants benefit from mentoring, networking, internships and career advancement opportunities, and AIR staff share in those benefits by expanding and diversifying their own professional networks,” he added.

Social inequity

Some of the work and initiatives, he said, will be self-funded through the AIR Equity Initiative, which is the organisation’s US$100 million investment in research and technical assistance to study and address the root causes of social inequity, and to increase opportunities for people and communities.

He said AIR was “sensitive” about concerns of unequal research relationships.

“An important part of our decision to establish an office in Kenya was to ensure that, through hiring and through partnerships, the research and technical assistance work we are doing is driven and conducted by those who have lived and are living in the region,” Tofig told University World News.

“It is also why we are investing in the Pipeline Partnership Program and partnerships with area universities: we want to help with local efforts to develop the next generation of researchers and social scientists in Africa, being cognisant of local context and unique research needs,” he said.

With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, AIR has offices across the US and abroad, and was founded in 1946 as a nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution that conducts behavioural and social science research. It delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education, and the workforce.

It says on its website that its work is driven by its mission to generate and use rigorous evidence that contributes to a better, more equitable world.